Foundation Stage Studies

For Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum Framework please click here.

Week 7 Term 2 2018/19

Topic

We have continued to focus on the story Dear Santa. They are very confident at retelling the story in the correct sequence and using the correct story book language (first, next, finally). The children also wrote lists of what they would like for Christmas and composed a class letter to Father Christmas which they sent on their visit to the Post Office.

Maths

We have been focusing on subtraction. The children have played a bus stop game; they rolled a dice and had to take away that number of people. They were encouraged to use the correct mathematical language to describe what had happened e.g. “10 people were on the bus, I took away 4 and that left 6”. We have also used a number line to calculate one more and one less of different numbers.

Outside Learning

The children have set up Father Christmas’s workshop outside this week. They have been busy elves wrapping presents and writing labels to go with them. Some children used the bricks and crates to build Santa’s sleigh. They enjoyed pretending to deliver presents to all the children of the world.

Post office visit

The children enjoyed walking to the post office and posting their letters to Father Christmas. We talked to the children about what a Post Office is and what they do. Thank you to all the parents who walked with us and made this trip possible.

Foundation Stage Nativity

Thank you so much for all of your support with our nativity production. The children worked so hard and we are very proud of them. We hope that you enjoyed watching it.

On Wednesday 19th December, the last day of term, we have our Christmas carol service at St. Andrews Church. Our service begins at 9.30 am, if any parents are available to help us walk there from 9.00am we would be very grateful. Please let your class teacher know.

This will be the final newsletter before the Christmas holidays, so we wish you all a wonderful two weeks off and look forward to seeing you in the New Year, on Thursday 3rd January.

Merry Christmas!

Mrs Leach, Mr Worsfold, Miss Truett and Miss Waters

Week 6 Term 2 2018/19

Topic

At the beginning of the week the children found a surprise visitor in their classrooms, a cheeky Elf! They have loved all the chaos the elves have caused, including making a ball pit out of pom poms and drawing faces on fruit. Next week the Elf will be setting challenges for them to complete.

We have also introduced the story Dear Santa by Rod Campbell. The children have learnt to retell the story and acted out the different parts. They used magnetic letters to spell out the different presents in the story and made story maps.

Maths

We have been focussing on estimating. The children first estimated how many objects there were in different sized pots and then they counted the objects to check the actual amounts. They also estimated the length of objects using non- standard units, such as how many cubes long a shoe is and how many strides to cross the classroom. The children also investigated different ways to make the number 5 with cubes; they recorded the different number bonds in their own way.

Outside Learning

Christmas has arrived in our outside area this week! The children have been busy making repeating pattern paper chains and wrapping 3D shapes to use in their imaginative play. The bikes have been turned into taxis. The drivers have been writing receipts and the passengers have told the drivers where they want to go.

Post office visit

On Thursday 13th December we are going to walk to Paddock Wood post office to post our letters to Father Christmas. We need some parents to accompany us on our short trip, please see your child’s class teacher if you’re available to join us.

The classes are leaving at the following times:

Bee class 9.15am

Ladybird class at 10.15 am

Caterpillar class are going at 1.40pm.

National Elf Service

On Friday afternoon the children had another Elf surprise! An Elf came to visit us, she told us a magical story and we had a singing competition. At the end of the visit she gave each child a special book.

Foundation Stage nativity

We have been busy practising our Nativity and we are very much looking forward to our performances next week!

Monday 10th December at 2.30 pm

Tuesday 11th December at 9.15 am

Thank you for all the wow moment slips that the children have brought in so far, it has been lovely to hear their achievements at home.

Mrs Leach, Mr Worsfold, Miss Truett and Miss Waters

Week 5 Term 2 2018/19

Topic

We have been learning about penguins. The children loved listening to the story Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers, which is about a little boy who finds a penguin and he wants to take him back to the South Pole. They labelled the body parts of a penguin and learnt a special penguin dance. At the end of the week the children watched a short video about the South Pole and then they discussed what they might see if they went there and how they would feel.

Maths

The children came up with top tips for counting and made a class poster to help them remember them. The top tips included: move the object when you count it, say the number names in order and clap the total to check. They also learnt about subtraction this week; the children played a take away game and acted out the story Ten Little Pirates as a class. Throughout the story pirates keep getting taken away and the children had to count how many were left each time.

Outside Learning

The children have been busy making boats outside to take them to the South Pole. They have used a range of 3D boxes and worked collaboratively to build them. Some children built a race track on the playground and then charged children money to use it with their bikes. They also recorded the order the children finished in the race.

Class fund

Thank you so much for everyone’s contributions to their child’s class fund this term. We have just purchased some small world resources to enhance their play during child initiated time, including fairies, fairy furniture and road way tape. Earlier in the term we bought some nuts and bolts for children to use in a funky finger activity. They have loved screwing them together!

Wow moments

We would love to hear about your child’s achievements at home. Whether it is learning to ride a bike, reading a new word or recognising numbers on doors; we would like to know. We will be sending home wow moment slips for these magic moments to be recorded on. You could even send in a photo to go with it. These wow moments will then be shared with the class and added to your child’s learning journey.

Red word check

This week we have tested the children on the first set of red words. Please look in their yellow reading records to see how they got on and which ones they still need to focus on. If your child read them all correctly we will be sending home the next set of red words to learn shortly. Thank you for your continued support with reading at home.

Have a lovely, relaxing weekend.

Mrs Leach, Mr Worsfold, Miss Truett and Miss Waters

Week 4 Term 2 2018/19

Topic

We have continued to focus on the story of The Little Red Hen and extended it through innovation. The children first thought of a new character to make the bread and retold the new story. They acted out this version of the story and wrote sentences to describe the new characters. At the end of the week the children enjoyed thinking of questions to ask the new characters and then took it in turns to ask them questions.

Maths

We have focused on ordering numbers and finding missing numbers on a number line. We asked the children to explain what the missing number is and reason how they know, using mathematical language. We also introduced 3D shapes and discussed how they are different to 2D. They went on a 3D shape hunt around the classroom and looked for spheres, cubes, cuboids and pyramids. Some children started to describe their properties.

Outside Learning

It has been a busy and cold week outside. The children decided to set up a petrol station, they made signs and decided how much the petrol will cost. They also counted the wheels on the different vehicles and charged money to have them fixed. Throughout the week children went on a hidden animal treasure hunt and they recorded the animals they found on clipboards. After they found the animals they discussed where the animals might live and why.

Dates for the diary

Monday 10th December at 2.30pm Foundation Stage Nativity to parents

Tuesday 11th December at 9.15am Foundation Stage Nativity to parents

Friday 14th December Christmas lunch and Christmas jumper day

Reading book

Thank you for your continued support at home.
Reading regularly at home and practising your child’s sounds and words really helps them to make progress. Please can book bags be in school every day.

Reminder

Please can all nativity costumes be sent into school in a named carrier bag by Monday 3rd December. If you have any difficulties with finding the clothes required please speak to your class teacher.

Wooden cable reels

We are on the look out for large wooden cable reels, if anyone has any available or knows where we can get some we would be very grateful.

Have a good weekend.

Mrs Leach, Mr Worsfold, Miss Truett and Miss Waters

Week 3 Term 2 2018/19

Topic

This week we have continued to focus on the story of The Little Red Hen, the children have become really confident at retelling the story and using actions to perform it. They have thought about how the hen feels at different parts of the story and written simple sentences to describe her. Next week we are going to innovate the story by changing the main characters.

Maths

This week we have introduced money to the children, they have sorted coins and played a shop game. We discussed the value of the different coins and some children started to add coins together to pay for different amounts. We have continued to do lots of counting this week too and matched numbers to the correct number of objects.

Outside Learning

The children decided to set up a farm shop outside this week and have enjoyed labelling fruit to sell and taking it in turns to be the shop keeper. Throughout the week the children have set up lots of dens outside using crates, fabric and ropes. They worked collaboratively together and used their imagination to role play in the dens they made.

Talk for writing

Thank you to all the parents that came in this afternoon to listen to our retelling of The Little Red Hen. We would now like the children to teach you the story using the story map we have sent home. This will really help to deepen their understanding of the story.

Dates for the diary

Monday 10th December at 2.30pm Foundation Stage Nativity to parents

Tuesday 11th December at 9.15am Foundation Stage Nativity to parents

Friday 14th December Christmas lunch and Christmas jumper day

Wellington boots

Thank you to all of the children that have brought wellington boots into school, there are still a few children that haven’t brought any in yet. We would be very grateful if everyone had wellies in school as we spend a lot of time outside in all weathers.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Leach, Mr Worsfold, Miss Truett and Miss Waters

Week 2 Term 2 2018/19

Topic

This week we have learnt about the Hindu festival, Diwali. We discussed the story of Diwali and used puppets to retell it. We also found out about different Diwali customs and in particular we focused on Rangoli patterns which are colourful designs made on the floor near the entrance to a house to welcome guests. We used lots of different media to make to patterns including pasta, paint, chalk and tissue paper.

Maths

This week we continued to focus on 1 more and 1 less, the children used number lines to help them, as well as objects. They also completed lots of mathematical activities related to pattern to link in with our topic work. The children created their own repeating patterns using shapes and drawings.

Outside Learning

The children have been very busy again outside this week. They used different coloured pasta to make large Rangoli patterns and experimented with colour mixing, using chalk. Throughout the week the children have used the large shapes to make patterns on the playground and enjoyed talking about their properties. Some children have used our large construction set to build different models and have made labels to go with them.

Talk for Writing

We have been learning to retell the story ‘The Little Red Hen’ over the past two weeks and we would like to invite parents into their child’s classroom on Friday 16 November at 3.00pm for the children to perform the story to you.

Class Fund

Thank you so much to all the parents that contribute 50p a week to their child’s class fund. It is very much appreciated and we will update you again shortly about our next purchases.

Thank You

Thank you very much to all the parents and carers that attended parent consultations this week and for all the comments you have added to your child’s learning journal.

Next week we are going to start learning about money in maths. If you have any real 1ps and 2ps that you can send in with your child, it would be much appreciated.

Have a relaxing weekend.

Mrs Leach, Mr Worsfold, Miss Truett and Miss Waters

Week 1 Term 2 2018/19

Topic

This week we have started a new topic all about the story of the ‘Little Red Hen’. The children are learning to retell the story orally and have made a class story map to help them. They have also enjoyed thinking of questions to ask the different characters and making puppets to help them sequence the story.

Maths

This week in maths we have focussed on using the language more or less to describe the quantities of objects. We have calculated one more or less than a given number of objects and found the corresponding numeral. We have also revisited 2D shapes and played a shape feely game to describe the shapes.

Outside Learning

The children have loved using our newly renovated playhouse this week. They have role played being different people and have taken it in turns to cook food for each other. This week the shop was turned into a conker market and the children have used the balance scales to weigh out different amounts of conkers. Throughout the week, the children have all gone on an egg number hunt and recorded the numbers they found on clipboards. We challenged the children to tell us the number that is one more and one less.

Cold weather

The weather is getting colder and wetter. Please ensure that your child has a named waterproof coat in school to keep them warm when they are outside. We also request that children have a named pair of wellington boots in school so that they are able to access the whole outside area and go on walks around the school.

Outside area improvements

Over the holiday some parents kindly volunteered their time and donated some new resources to improve our outside area. The Foundation stage team also spent some time on the INSET day improving storage and making the equipment more accessible. We still have some jobs to do; including painting a shed, continuing to paint the fence and building a water wall. If any parents are available to help us do this, during the school day or after school, please let us know.

Home Learning

Thank you to all the children that have brought in their holiday news to share in school. If you still have it at home, can you please bring it back in so that it can be added to your child’s learning journal.

Thank you to all the parents that have volunteered to come into school to hear children read. We are very grateful for all of your support.

Have a good weekend.

Mrs Leach, Mr Worsfold, Miss Truett and Miss Waters

Week 7 Term 1 2018/19

Topic

Wow! The end of our first term has arrived! It has been a busy time and so much has been accomplished. We cannot emphasise enough how proud we all are of each and every child. They have settled in tremendously well and are keen and eager to learn new things.

This week we have continued to focus on Autumn and the children enjoyed listening to the story Leaf Man. They talked about why he went where the wind blew him and made a leaf man out of leaves. The children have also used conkers with letters on them to make words and had fun rolling them down different cardboard tubes.

Maths

The children have been playing lots of mathematical games, like spotty dog and snakes and ladders. We have been encouraging the children to count on and recognise numerals while they are playing. They have also had the balance scales introduced to them and investigated how many Care Bears are needed to balance the scales with different objects.

Outside Learning

The children have set up a Halloween shop outside. They enjoyed taking it in turns to be the shopkeeper and making signs to go with it. Some children chose to hunt for words in the shaving foam tuft tray and read the different words they found. Throughout the week children have made road signs and controlled the scooter traffic using them.

Houses

All children and staff are organised into houses: Dover (yellow), Hever (blue), Leeds (green) and Scotney (red). Today your child has been given a house badge and told which house they are in.

House points will be awarded in our everyday school life and through competitions, including sports days, and we will celebrate house achievements at whole-school assemblies and on ‘House Days’.

Home learning challenge

Over the next week we would like to encourage the children to draw a picture of the things they will be doing over the holiday. Your child could even label their picture using initial sounds or simple words. We look forward to seeing them after the holiday.

Phonics meeting

Thank you to all the parents who attended our phonics meeting on Thursday. The PowerPoint of the slides will be added to the school website for you to look at if you were unable to attend the meeting.